DESCRIPTION: (Applicant's Description) The aims of this competitive continuation grant are: 1) provide training in advanced practice oncology nursing for minority students; 2) continue to recruit African-American nurses and expand efforts to recruit Hispanic and Asian nurses who can address the needs of these populations in cancer care; 3) continue and expand clinical sites that provide students with opportunities to care for African-Americans, Hispanic, and Asian populations; 4) continue and expand strategies to maintain retention and completion of program; and 5) facilitate opportunities to mentor a cadre of minority advanced practice oncology nurses after graduation, assist in obtaining employment, and encourage these nurses to pursue doctoral studies. Our nursing program in oncology nursing was successfully implemented in 1985 and the current project was funded in 1992 to strengthen recruitment and retention of minority nurses. At the completion of this project August 1997, 16 minority nurses will have graduated, including 14 graduates with a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and two with a Ph.D. in Nursing. Fourteen of the graduates are African American, 1 Hispanic, and 1 Asian. The Masters program consists of 12 required courses; six core courses in oncology, including theory and clinical content. The program needs to be expanded to target Hispanic and Asian nurses to meet the needs of a growing number of minorities in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley who are at risk for developing cancer or who have cancer. Recruitment/retention activities will be geared toward minority applicants. Objectives include the training of minority nurses to be change agents in minority communities and education of non-minority nurses to be receptive to the needs of minority persons. It is projected that a minimum of 10 minority students will complete the program in the next five years. Stipends are requested for minority students only. Applicants must meet University of Pennsylvania's standard graduate admission criteria. The School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania is the primary resource to the program along with a variety of clinical settings that provide services to minority patients.